 | |
| Abbreviation | MWL |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Augusta, Maine |
Executive Director | Destie Hohman Sprague |
Board Chair | Elizabeth Riotte |
| Website | mainewomen.org |
The Maine Women's Lobby (MWL) was founded in 1978 and is dedicated to legislative action on behalf of Maine's women and girls. The Maine Women's Lobby believes women and girls should have economic security, access to health care, and freedom from violence and discrimination. [1]
The Maine Women's Lobby was founded in 1978 by nine women, including Patricia E. Ryan, Linda Smith Dyer, Lois Galgay Reckitt, and Janet T. Mills. [2] [3] During the 1978 Maine Legislative Session, the group worked to fund battered women’s shelters, but when the session concluded, there was no money appropriated for the shelters. The group was told that they had not been represented during the vote. After the defeat of the Battered Women’s Projects in 1978, they decided they would never be unrepresented during a legislative vote again. [4]
Then-Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills was elected to the Board of Directors of the Maine Women's Lobby in 1998. [5] She resigned after being elected Governor of Maine in 2018. In 2010, the organization launched the "She Decides" campaign, which compiles political candidates' responses to questionnaires geared towards women's issues. [6]
In the 2018 story, "We‘ve Come A Long Way, Baby...Haven‘t We?", published by Portland Magazine , then-Executive Director Eliza Townsend notes the expansion of Maine’s Family Medical Leave law to include domestic partners in 2007 as a recent highlight of the MWL's work. In 2015, L.D. 921 was passed to provide more extensive protections for victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in the workplace. Penalties increased for employers who fire employees needing to take time off to attend court dates, doctor appointments, and other related burdens. [7]
The Maine Women's Lobby Education Fund, formerly known as the Maine Women's Policy Center, is the sister organization to the Maine Women's Lobby and is to help Mainers develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage in feminist, anti-oppression-based public policy advocacy and civic life.
The MWL Education Fund does this through programming focused on community building and community organizing in order to increase knowledge, skills, and opportunities for citizens to engage in public policy change.
The Maine Women's Lobby Education Fund (MWLEF) was founded in 1990 to improve the economic, social, and political status of women and girls in Maine through public policy and leadership development. The 'Ed Fund' sponsors Girl's Day at the Maine State House, which hosts eighth grade girls from all over Maine. MWLEF also has a biennial Policy Roadmap and the Maine Women's Summit on Economic Security, which switches off every other year. [8] [9]
Michael Herman Michaud is an American businessman and politician from Maine. Michaud served as the U.S. representative for Maine's 2nd congressional district from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The primarily rural district comprises nearly 80% of the state by area and includes the cities of Lewiston, Auburn, Bangor, Presque Isle, and Ellsworth. It is the largest Congressional district by area east of the Mississippi River.
Hannah M. Pingree is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Maine and daughter of Maine politician Chellie Pingree. She served four terms in the State Legislature, including one as Speaker of the House, before being forced to leave office by state term limits. In the Legislature she represented 10 islands and coastal towns. She was the second woman to serve as Speaker of the House in Maine.
Leigh Ingalls Saufley is the dean of the University of Maine School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Saufley grew up in South Portland, Maine, and attended the University of Maine and the University of Maine School of Law. She was first appointed to the Maine District Court in 1990, and to the Supreme Judicial Court in 1997. She was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in 2001, becoming both Maine's first woman and the youngest person ever to serve in the position. She served as chief justice until 2020 when she was hired as the eighth Dean of the University of Maine School of Law.
Janet Trafton Mills is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 75th governor of Maine since January 2019. She previously served as the Maine Attorney General on two occasions.
Paul Richard LePage is an American politician who served as the 74th governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the mayor of Waterville, Maine, from 2004 to 2011 and as a city councilor for Waterville from 1998 to 2002.
Donna M. Loring is an author, broadcaster, and former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Janet Mills, the governor of Maine.
Eloise A. Vitelli is the majority leader of the Maine Senate. She is a Democrat representing Senate District 24, which serves all of Sagadahoc County and the adjacent town of Dresden, Maine in Lincoln County. Vitelli was first elected to the Maine Senate in a 2013 special election, but lost her re-election bid in 2014. She was re-elected in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022. Vitelli began working as an entrepreneurship trainer in the early 1980s and was the director of program and policy for New Ventures Maine for 38 years. She became the Assistant Senate Majority Leader in December 2020, and Majority Leader in February 2021.
Shenna Lee Bellows is an American politician and a non-profit executive director, best known for her work with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She is the 50th Maine secretary of state. On December 2, 2020, the Maine Legislature elected her to be Maine secretary of state. She is executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.
Teresea M. "Terry" Hayes is an American politician from Maine who served as the Maine State Treasurer and a candidate for Governor of Maine in 2018. A political independent, Hayes represented part of Oxford County, Maine, including her residence in Buckfield, Maine, as a Democrat from 2006 to 2014. She was unable to seek re-election to the Maine House of Representatives in 2014 due to term-limits.
Sara I. Gideon is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party from Freeport, she represented the 48th district in the Maine House of Representatives, which includes part of Freeport and Pownal in Cumberland County.
The 2018 Maine gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Maine. It occurred along with elections for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and other state and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Paul LePage was term limited and could not seek a third consecutive term in office; he later unsuccessfully sought a third term in 2022.
Lois Galgay Reckitt is an American feminist, human rights activist, LGBT rights activist, and domestic violence advocate. Called "one of the most prominent advocates in Maine for abused women", she served as executive director of Family Crisis Services in Portland, Maine for more than three decades. From 1984 to 1987 she served as executive vice president of the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C. She is a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the Maine Coalition for Human Rights, the Maine Women's Lobby, and the first Maine chapter of the National Organization for Women. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.
Ellen Frances Golden is an American nonprofit executive specializing in micro-enterprise and women's business development. She was senior vice president of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. of Wiscasset, Maine, where she directed the Women's Business Center and CEI Investment Notes. She has testified before congressional committees on women's entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise development, and has sat on the boards of policy-making groups in these fields. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.
Linda Smith Dyer was an American lawyer, lobbyist, and women's rights activist. After a two-decade legal career, she entered public service as deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture. She co-founded the Maine Women's Lobby and was active in the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Maine. A member on numerous boards and committees, she was a past president of the Maine State Bar Association and the Family Planning Association of Maine. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2001, a few months before her death.
Laura A. Fortman is an American government employee, non-profit executive, and women's rights activist. Since 2013 she has served as deputy administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Previously she was commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor, and executive director of the Frances Perkins Center, the Maine Women's Lobby, and the Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center of Augusta. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.
Maine Question 2, formally entitled "An Act To Enhance Access to Affordable Health Care", was a citizen-initiated ballot measure that appeared on the November 7, 2017 statewide ballot in the State of Maine. Maine Question 2 sought to expand Medicaid eligibility under the terms of the Affordable Care Act. The measure passed.
The 2022 Maine gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Maine. Incumbent Democratic governor Janet Mills won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican nominee and former governor, Paul LePage. Neither candidate faced any primary opposition. An independent candidate, Sam Hunkler, received 2% of the vote, the lowest total for a third party or independent candidate in the state since 1982.
The COVID-19 pandemic was publicly reported to have reached the U.S. state of Maine on March 12, 2020. As of February 2, 2021, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services reported 131,530 confirmed cases and 46,971 probable cases in the state, with 1,777 deaths attributed to the virus.
Valerie Stanfill is an American judge who serves as the chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. She is a former Associate Justice of the Maine Superior Court.